Brewers reliever Josh Hader on having his contract renewed: 'The route that we decided to go'

PHOENIX – Reliever Josh Hader chose his words carefully Thursday morning when answering questions about his decision to have his contract for 2019 renewed by the Milwaukee Brewers rather than accepting their offer.

“First of all, I love being here in Milwaukee,” the 24-year-old strikeout sensation said. “I love how they treat us. On that end, it was a business decision that I talked to my agent about. That was just the route that we decided to go.”

Milwaukee Brewers pitched for the first time in spring training Sunday.(Photo: Roy Dabner, for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

Because Hader is not yet eligible for salary arbitration, and won’t be until after the 2020 season, he is under club control in terms of determining his pay. The Brewers use a formula, based on statistical performance and awards, to arrive at salary offers for pre-arbitration players.

Hader made $556,500 last season when he made the National League all-star team and set strikeout records for a left-handed reliever. MLB.com reported the Brewers renewed him at $687,600, using their formula to determine his salary.

Pre-arbitration players have no way to protest salary offers other than to make clubs renew them, and that’s what Hader and his representative from Creative Artists Agency chose to do. All other Brewers players in that category accepted their contract offers.

“It just is what it is,” Hader said of the renewal. “That’s why we have the agents for the business part of it. It’s something we discussed and came to the conclusion of doing.”

“We’ll have to see,” he said. “Obviously, I don’t look too far ahead in advance. This is the position that we’re at now.”

Some players in Hader’s service category have begun accepting extensions that buy out their arbitration years and provide security. Hader, who set a major-league record for a lefty reliever with 143 strikeouts last season, said he has had no overtures by the Brewers for an extension to this point.

As for moving past the disagreement, Hader said, “That doesn’t change the game. I still have to go out and do my job as well. There’s two ends of it, where you have the business and you’ve got the actual game.

“That’s where our focus is now, and we’re going to put ourselves in a good position to get back to the playoffs and get to that World Series spot.”